Padawan
by OrigamiLothcat
Summary: 17 years after order 66, Ahsoka Tano, now a crucial leader in the Rebellion, is on a mission with Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger when she finds herself face to face for the first time since she left the Jedi Order with her old Master, Darth Vader. No romance, or swearing. Many feels. Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Lucasfilm Ltd. I just love Star Wars.


"Padawan"

"Run, Ezra. Kanan. This fight is mine, and mine alone."

"No Master Tano! I won't leave you!"

Words echoed through the hallway where Ahsoka stood her ground. She knew this encounter was inevitable. It had always been leading up to this. Always.

The startled vibes she sensed from Jarrus pained her so. She was leaving him alone. For so long he had thought he had no one, until he met her. Now he would once more have to carry the burden of their legacy solo.

"Kanan." She spoke to the man solidly, her back to her companions, though she felt like weeping inside. "Keep the fire going, they can't win, not again, you can't let them." Then she turned her face towards master and padawan. "Take care of Ezra, and remember the Jedi."

She could sense his reluction, every fiber of his body screaming in objection, but he slowly nodded. She tuned again, the last image in her mind of Ezra, frantically trying to rush towards her while his master held him back. They had to survive. They had to.

Then, in a fragment of a second, she caught sight of the black cape. Time slowed down, her heartbeat sped up. 17 years… leading up to now.

Darth Vader entered leading a squad of four storm troopers, each with their weapons fixed up ahead, the dark lord with his hands by his side. Ahsoka closed her eyes.

For so many years she'd heard the rumors and read the reports. When she found out, she'd wondered awake at night instead of sleeping. How could he do such a thing? How could he betray the Republic, the Jedi, himself? How could he betray her? They had been so inseparable, minds thinking on the same line of the same page, taking worlds together.

How much of him was in her? That seed of evil, the one she'd warned herself about all those years ago on Mortis, how much had it sprouted?

It made sense now, her master and his defiant habits, his reckless behaviour. This is what they were leading up to. On Mortis, he had shown so much power. This is what that power was for. Back then, he'd been manipulated by the dark so easily, when he couldn't face his actions. What had he done to turn into this?

For years she had reached out with the force trying to grasp something, anything, of his consciousness. The bond between a master and an apprentice was the strongest of all, but whenever she'd searched for that bond in the past, after the order fell, she found nothing but anger and darkness. Here, finally here, in his presence, she sensed something more. Something that consumed his mind. Created the living nightmare he had turned into blazing rage. Regret.

And she was angry. Angry with him for destroying her family. Angry with him for creating such an oppressive galaxy. Angry with him for joining the Sith. Angry with him for not listening. Angry with him for becoming what he had become, for killing her master. Angry with him because he had hurt the people she loved. Angry with him because he hurt her.

Ahsoka felt the darkness in her taking over. Why shouldn't it? It made her strong, didn't it? Strong enough to stand a chance against him. She could live. She could go back to leading the rebellion alongside Kanan and Ezra. She could raise up a generation of force sensitives to follow the paths of old. Why shouldn't she give in? She wasn't a Jedi anymore! She didn't have to follow their restrictive rules! The Jedi didn't even exist anymore! They had been too weak! Thousands of them out smarted by a single Sith lord! They could have won! Had they only given into this power…

And Ahsoka wasn't a Jedi anymore. What the order had become since it had been founded so many thousands of years ago, was narrow-minded. It was blind. It was easily deceived. Even corrupted. The council had become fearful, confused. But at the core of the order still, was good. People working for good. Whatever they thought that good was. Ahsoka was no longer held by the limits, nor the blindness, nor the deception, nor the fear. What she was, was free. Free to do good.

Anakin Skywalker had been good. He may have been rash at times, even arrogant, but he had only wanted to help. Injustice, oppression, it had made him so angry. He had fought only to destroy it. Now, though, everything was different. Vader _was_ the oppression Anakin had fought to destroy. Ahsoka had known Anakin, she had trusted Anakin, she would have willingly followed Anakin anywhere. Her master taught her to fight for freedom, fight for the good he had believed in. A teaching Ahsoka would take to her last.

She opened her eyes, and unclipped her lightsabers from her belt.

"So I see you're still alive my old apprentice." His voice was so mechanical, so unlike Anakin.

"Master Tano? What does he mean, 'old apprentice'? Master Tano!" Confusion and hurt toned Ezra's words.

But she didn't look back.

"Anakin."

"Anakin Skywalker is dead."

"Anakin, what happened to Padme?"

Something snapped inside the Sith lord, a memory of pure torture. She could feel the pain being transformed into anger. Boiling over. She had been right. Whatever had caused this transformation, whatever had led up to Vader, was connected to the Nubian Senetor.

Vader's mask moved ever so slightly, as if he was flinching his jaw. "So you knew."

"I figured it out."

Ahsoka could sense Kanan's shock as he processed what he was hearing. His pain.

"Senator Amidala is dead. As you should be. You dare betray your master once more?"

 _Once more._

She spoke with every certainty, "My master taught me to fight for good."

"Good and evil are simply points of view."

"They never were to you."

Vader's hand reached out, as if he clutched his very power in it. Her words meant nothing to him. This was not Anakin Skywalker. "I know your potential Ahsoka, yet you waste it on futile attempts to over through those who are rightfully in power. Join me, and unlock your true potential. Leave the old ways behind. The Jedi were corrupt, you know that better than anyone. Join me, and discover what they were truly meant to be. You were once my apprentice, why not again?"

He had said her name.

This dark lord, this stranger, had said her name.

She could join him, but none of that mattered now. It would never be the same. In the order, her and her master weren't just teacher and student, they were family. They had fought their way through the impossible, laughing and hurting together. The last time he had said her name he was trying to persuade her not to go. _Well Anakin._ Ahsoka thought to herself, _that gamble has finally paid off._

She ignited her pure silver lightsabers.

"NO! MASTER TANO!" Ezra cried desperately.

Ahsoka raised her lightsabers backhanded, one in front of her, one behind, ready to fight. "Not your apprentice Vader, I was Anakin Skywalker's Padawan."

As the blast doors slammed behind her, Ahsoka launched herself into the fight.


End file.
